In the Silenceby GCS

“You never
know what's going to meet you in the silence.” –Byron KatieJiggling
the keys in the lock with aggravation didn’t provide the results he wanted;
pushing against the door while jiggling the keys in the lock only served to
increase his disdain. Slamming his palm against the wall beside the door
provided only a stinging sensation and a spouting of profanity between clenched
teeth. The landlord promised to fix the lock weeks ago and claimed he’d done
it…poor bastard. Pulling
the key out and jamming it back in with a jerking twist did the trick and the
door flew open with a bang. Jason stepped into his apartment and slammed the
door, turning quickly to slide the bar and hook the chain at the top. He
breathed a sigh of relief and then stooped to slide the bar at the bottom.
Next, he stood and twisted the deadbolt into place, leaving the lock on the
cheap busted knob alone. Damn landlord hadn’t done a thing to make it work.
Jason smiled to himself. No matter now.With long
strides into the kitchen, Jason Morgan slipped from his jacket, tossing it
across a chair and turned to the fridge for a long awaited cold brew. He flung
open the door and grabbed a bottle, quickly twisting off the cap and taking a
long draw on the cold elixir until he lowered the half empty bottle. Before
closing the fridge he grabbed another bottle and pushed the door to with his
hip. Then he retraced his steps to the living room and sunk down on the
threadbare sofa where he finished the first bottle tossing it to the floor. Silence
greeted him in his apartment, silence that he relished with satisfaction.He grabbed
the remote and flipped on the TV and subsequently muted the sound. That used to
drive Jillian crazy. He smiled again. She hated it when he watched the pictures
in the quiet room at their high rise apartment. Well it wasn’t really a high
rise…six stories, but it was much nicer than the one he had now. He laughed to
himself. Not really since the explosion. Too bad that fireman got hurt when the
building blew from the broken gas lines, but still, Jillian had joined the
world of silence that day. Besides, the fireman only suffered from a broken
leg. Jason had
feigned sadness after for the sake of family and friends, but in truth he was
glad his ex-wife would no longer look at him the way she used to. Oh she said a
lot of things…yelled them really, but it was her eyes that he remembered the
most. The way she looked at him with such pity when she asked him to leave. You
could see anything in a person’s eyes, a lot of things you might not really
want to see, a lot of things that hurt to learn. It was the eyes that served as
windows to the depth of hate, the truth of regret, and Jillian had deep regret
for marrying him. She
claimed she loved him even though he had issues. She’d known about his problem
before they married and had promised that she didn’t care. But that promise had
faded just like all the others. They had been silenced too. It was regretful,
but necessary. Jason couldn’t allow them to interrupt his peace, and it was in
a quiet room that he found time to reflect on the day. That’s why he muted the
TV. He wanted to see the stories, but the jabbering reporters always got the
information wrong. All they ever did was speculate anyway. They didn’t know the
truth. They never did, so why listen when he already knew the details. He twisted
the cap off the second bottle and tossed it on the floor beside the first. This
was his place and the clutter didn’t bother him.Sirens
pierced through the thick curtains on the windows and across the expanse,
echoing off the walls and stabbing into his ears. He’d been found, poor
bastard. Jason
smiled at the scene he knew was happening on the first floor. The poor
bastard’s wife had come home to find her husband, his face awash with a silent
stare; his features frozen in fear. He’d heard her scream as he stepped onto
the landing just below his floor. He knew it was a matter of time before the
authorities would converge on the building. They were fast this time. He’d barely
gotten inside his own apartment thanks to that damn lock.He turned
the now luke warm bottle of brew up to his lips and said a toast to the silent
room before drinking. The two
beers lulled him into sleep on threadbare sofa while watching the breaking news
on the silent TV. That is where he was when the S.W.A.T. team broke down the
door to his fortress. That is where the silence was broken forever.02/01/2013

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